Continuous Slow and Fast Light Generation Using a Silicon-on-Insulator Microring Resonator Incorporating a Multimode Interference Coupler

Abstract

Continuously tunable slow and fast light generation using a silicon-on-insulator microring resonator (MRR) incorporating a multimode interference (MMI) coupler is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The MMI coupler is optimized for the transverse-magnetic mode. By changing the input polarization state, the self-coupling coefficient and the loss factor of the MRR are changed. The depth and the bandwidth of the MRR are tunable by tuning the self-coupling coefficient and the loss factor; thus, a tunable phase shift can be achieved at the resonance wavelength, which leads to the generation of a tunable slow and fast light. The proposed scheme is experimentally evaluated. A tunable slow light with a maximum time delay of 35 ps and a slow-to-fast light with a continuously tunable range of 102 ps are achieved for a 13.5-GHz Gaussian optical pulse by using a double-MMI coupler MRR and a single-MMI coupler MRR, respectively.